Standring makes it to finals of singles championships

April 16, 2007 11:00 pm

Triplicate staff

Del Norte High junior tennis player David Standring, the No. 2 singles player for the team, made it to the finals for No. 2 players at the Humboldt- Del Norte Conference Singles Championships Saturday in Eureka.

Standring, who was seeded second, opened play with a 6-1, 6-1 win.

The second match proved to be much more challenging, with Standring defeating Jan Van Alten of North Coast Prep 7-6, (7-4), 6-4.

"It was one of the better matches," head coach Kirk Olesen said. "They were both pretty even. It was pretty much back and fourth."

In the finals, Standring met Alex Kusmak of Arcata and lost 6-4, 6-1. Kusmak has not lost a match this year. Arcata won five of the six singles championships.

Junior Ben Tell, the No. 3 for Del Norte, had a nice first game, defeating Brad Gill of Saint Bernard's 6-0, 6-0, Olesen said. Tell had to forfeit his second match. This was because it started in the early evening and he had a prior commitment to escort a girl to the Del Norte County Junior Miss Scholarship Pageant that night.

Olesen commended Tell for sticking to his prior commitment and said he believes he would have made it to the finals if he played.

Blake Polidore, the team's No. 1 seed. lost his first match to Fernando Salmeron of Eureka 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).

Olesen said Polidore played a good game, but Salmeron played an exceptional match and was able to pull out the victory.